No. 2-ranked Medvedev back on ATP tour after ban by Wimbledon

Watching news from Ukraine is“very upsetting,”no. 2-ranked Daniil Medvedev said Sunday of the war that led Wimbledon organizers to ban him and other Russians from their tennis tournament. The U.S. Open champ spoke at the Geneva Open, where he returns to action after a five-week absence for surgery on a hernia injury. Medvedev is topseeded at Geneva and has a bye into the second round.

“I had some time to follow what is happening — yeah, it’s very upsetting,” Medvedev said when asked if he could monitor the conflict in Ukraine more closely while not playing. Medvedev previously said in February after Russia invaded Ukraine that he was “all for peace.”

Though most Olympic sports banned Russian teams and athletes from international competitions, tennis allowed players to continue as individuals and not representatives of their country. Wimbledon organizers went further, announcing three weeks ago a decision to impose a ban. They said that could change “if circumstances change materially”in the war before the tournament begins June 27.

Medvedev said “I don’t know if this decision is like 100% and it’s over” for him at Wimbledon, where he reached the round of 16 last year.“if I can play, I’m going to be happy to play,” he said.

“Me, personally in life, I try to respect every opinion because every human life is different,” he said.“you show a tennis ball to 100 people I’m sure some of them are going to say it’s green, and not yellow. I think it’s yellow. If somebody tells me it’s green I’m not going to, you know, get in conflict with this person.”